The Billionaire's Voice

PROLOGUE

Tessa Sullivan rushed out of the fancy Boston restaurant,

her vision blurred with unused tears. She was so gutted

that she stepped of the curb s\distractedly, startled a

strong, masculine had grabbed her arm.

Her head jerked around and she tilted her chin to look

up-way up-at man, she'd never seen before.

"The traffic is busy tonight and I was afraid you were

going to keep walking. You like you're in another

place. It's hard to believe you didn't hear the traffic. You

must be really distracted. I hope I didn't scare you. I'm

sorry."

Honestly, she might have left walking if he hadn't

detained her. Her brain was muddled, her world so

silent that she couldn't hear the cars. "Thank you," she

said quietly. "I'm deaf."

He was tall and broad. and he definitely had the "bad

boy" look going on. But he tried at her. Tessa

had a difficult time not smiling back. For as tough as he

looked on the exterior. His eyes were kind.

"You read lips?" He let go of her arm slowly. She

nodded as she took in his black leather jacket and the

baseball cap he was tearing. She guessed he was a few

years older than she was. But it was hard to really tell.

There was spiky dark hair escaping his hat and his eyes

were the color of milk chocolate and seemed very kind,

which for her made him highly likable. Since those eyes

held an empathy and warmth that was more than wel-

come at the moment.

"You need a ride? My car is right across the street." He

waved his arm at a limo sitting directly across from them.

She shook her head vigorously. "My fiancé's car—"

She caught herself, her voice shaky. "I mean my ex-

fiancé's car is here somewhere."

"You just broke up." The stranger guessed. Is smile

fading.

"Yes." She thought better about confessing her prob-

lems to a stinger and corrected herself. "No."

Then she looked into the eyes of her rescuer and

wondered why she cared about telling anybody the truth.

She had nothing to lose anymore. "Yes," she murmured

sadly. "I'm sorry. I guess since it just happened, I'm not